Rabbit alternator upgrade?

[ToddA1]

Mine is stock and 65 amps.  Driving home in a snowstorm with the blower, lights, radio, GPS and wipers on, my alternator couldn't keep up.  The battery is good and never slow cranked before, but did this time.  I needed to jump start it and charge the battery when I got home.  It's been fine since.

Is there a drop in replacement?  Not looking to go serpentine, and I'd rather just keep all the A1 brackets, if possible. 

-Todd

[Rabbit on Roids]

put an a2 90 amp a/c alt in there? ive got a very power hungry amp hooked up in my GTI, and it does just fine.

[ToddA1]

Are the mounting ears in the same position as mine?  I've done that on gas cars, but I thought the diesel alts have the ears 180* out.

-Todd

[maxfax]

I have a 100 amp GM Alt..    Hey it was cheap and plentiful...

[theman53]

I have a 100 amp GM Alt..    Hey it was cheap and plentiful...

Do show me how it is mounted, wired, and what it came from.

[maxfax]

I used on of the "one wire" alts that Summit sells.. http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-811001/ It was on an old Caprice I had that died long ago...

Wiring was easy, one wire to the battery.. THe drawback is that I have no charge indicator.. I used one of the deep alt pulleys from an early non a/c MK1.. (From the alt with the short shaft) I needed a washer in the pivot bolt to shim the alt back a bit, and to take up some extra space in there..  IIRC the slide bracket was too short so I grabbed one from my junk pile..  One could probably lengthen the original one too..  I know I needed a slightly longer belt..  When I yank the engint out I'll have to snap some pics and post a writeup...

I was looking at one of the smaller alts like was used on a V6 Chevy Burito..  The ears on that one seem to be positioned about the same as the VW alt..  I may try mounting that in there when I do the engine swap..  The extra space under the hood would be handy....

[lux]

I had a really good experience getting my stock one rebuilt by a local specialist.  I asked him to build it as powerful as possible in preparation for the compressors for the airbag set up I was fixing to install at the time.  Benched at 105A or thereabouts.  Price was the same as a non-OEM replacement and it came back all painted and pretty.

[maxfax]

I wish we still had some good rebuilders in this area..  Our last one finally retired..  Well actually he died in his shop (if only we could all be so lucky when the time comes!)  I know I could rebuild, and build up such things myself, but until I source the parts it just isn;t worth it...

[Rabbit on Roids]

Are the mounting ears in the same position as mine?  I've done that on gas cars, but I thought the diesel alts have the ears 180* out.

-Todd

what does it matter if you mount it right side up or upside down? its still gonna be spinning the right way and making power, the connections are just going to be upside down. im pretty sure its a bolt on and go. you may have to use the A2 alt bracket tho, not 100% positive.

[ToddA1]

I searched pics of both alternators.  They're definitely different in the way they mount.

The Rabbit diesel had a wide mounting tab that slides between 2 mounting ears on the pivot bracket.  The later Golf alternator has 2 ears that slide over a large tab on the pivot bracket. 

I was hoping to find a drop in replacement.

-Todd

[GEE-BEE]

I found a brand new Bosch 90 amp alt on ebay for my AAZ 60.00

it's all how you search for the item...

GB

[ToddA1]

I never said I searched Ebay.  Post a pic or link of what you bought, if you're telling me it'll work on a non-a/c Rabbit.

-Todd

[Rabbit on Roids]

I searched pics of both alternators.  They're definitely different in the way they mount.

The Rabbit diesel had a wide mounting tab that slides between 2 mounting ears on the pivot bracket.  The later Golf alternator has 2 ears that slide over a large tab on the pivot bracket. 

I was hoping to find a drop in replacement.

-Todd

the alt in my 85 golf mounts just like the alt in my rabbit. one big ear on the alt slides into 2 ears on the cast iron bracket. i dunno what your talking about them being different. but my golf/gti is an 85, so its kinda ancient. might be just enough years of difference for it to not work. but im almost 100% positive the gas alt will bolt to the diesel mount. i know the pulleys are the same offset, tried using a diesel pulley on my alt to delete the a/c, but it put it back in the right (wrong) spot.

[ToddA1]

I searched a 90 Golf 8v....  maybe the image was incorrect?  I'll check it out.  Thanks.

-Todd

[Rabbit on Roids]

yea dude, i would bet its wrong. i will check today if the alts interchange. im almost positive they will.